AP: "More than 320 new laws will take effect Thursday in North Dakota, including limits on abortion, a repeal of a ban that prohibits some convicted criminals from running for city council and a measure that allows permitted parishioners to pack a gun in church."

Missoulian: "A former Municipal Court judge who sued the city of Missoula for wrongful firing had been told to improve her performance, but she was not terminated from her appointment as assistant judge as she alleged, according to a court document."

N.Y. Times: "An appeals court on Tuesday unanimously upheld a decision striking down New York City's restrictions on the sale of large, sugary drinks, dealing a serious blow to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's hopes of reviving the rule before his term runs out."

Bismarck Tribune: "Crime increased 7.9 percent in North Dakota in 2012 compared to 2011, and violent crime increased 7.2 percent, according to the Uniform Crime Report released on Tuesday. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem stressed that violent crime remains at less than 10 percent of all reports of crime in the state."

Bismarck Tribune: "The Juvenile Drug Court is a collaboration among the legal system, schools, treatment facilities and families. It is a high intensity program and to qualify, the youth must not have been charged with a dealing or violent offense and have a drug or alcohol problem."

Jamestown Post-Journal: "Typically, a lecture does not have musical interludes. However, the hundreds who were in attendance for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's lecture at Chautauqua Institution on Monday were treated to a show."

Bismarck Tribune: "A federal judge on [June 22] temporarily blocked a new North Dakota law that bans abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected - as early as six weeks into pregnancy - calling the law 'clearly invalid and unconstitutional.'"

N.Y. Times: "Chief Judge Lippman announced the latest plan to clear the backlog as The New York Times was preparing a series of articles about the delays in the Bronx, which had been growing for decades. In a demonstration of shared focus, Robert T. Johnson, the longtime Bronx district attorney, stood alongside him."

Ravalli Republic/AP: "The Montana Supreme Court on Friday rejected a request from Barry Beach to reconsider its decision last month to send him back to prison for the 1979 murder of a classmate after he spent 1 1/2 years as a free man awaiting a new trial."

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "With 35 years of federal ICWA legislation on the books and 80 percent of Native children still showing up in white foster homes, the tribes insist they are ready to take over foster care and child protection services, and to keep more of their children on the reservations."

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Prosecutors will be allowed to use post-arrest statements against a confessed murderer as they try to persuade jurors to deliver a death sentence, a Sioux Falls judge ruled."

Bismarck Tribune: "After two meetings, the Morton County Home Rule Charter Commission has neared a decision about two ballot proposals to help pay for a two-county jail in Bismarck next June, said Andy Zachmeier, its chairman."

A memorial service for Paul J. Bridston, who served in the N.D. House of Representatives from Grand Forks in the 1970s after having served in the Kennedy and Nixon administrations, will be at 3 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 3, at First Lutheran Church in Bemidji, Minn.

Billings Gazette: "Jackee Taylor, of Billings, is working to reform the federal witness protection program. Taylor's father, Clarence Crouch, was placed in the program in the early 1980s when he agreed to testify against several fellow Hells Angels gang members charged with murder."

Bismarck Tribune: "The smallest population county in North Dakota has a big decision to make. Slope County with 727 residents may replace its original wood courthouse with a new brick-faced building within the year."

On July 25, members of the Big Muddy Bar Association hosted The Banquet at Trinity Lutheran Church for the Bismarck-Mandan community. The Big Muddy served 427 meals at the church, provided 30 take out meals, and sent food to Pam's House, a shelter for abused adults and their children. On the menu were plenty of milk and fruit in addition to a great salad and pulled pork sandwiches.

Gov. Jack Dalrymple July 26 appointed Norman G. Anderson to a newly created judgeship in the East Central Judicial District. The 2013 Legislature established a ninth judgeship in the East Central Judicial District which serves Cass, Steele and Traill counties.

Dickinson Press: "More than $58 million is heading to cities and counties around the Oil Patch to address infrastructure and law enforcement needs. The North Dakota Board of University & School Lands approved a series of grants Thursday."

McClatchy Newspapers: "The Obama administration announced Thursday that it will legally contest a series of laws around the country as part of an aggressive campaign to fight a recent Supreme Court ruling that it says could reduce minority voting."

KSFY News: "South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley has been selected to be chairman of the Conference of Western Attorneys General. The conference addresses legal topics and areas of common interest to western states."

Yankton Press and Dakotan: "When Patrick Garry first began writing in college, he never thought he would be receiving awards for his work. The University of South Dakota law professor has now received more recognition for his scholarly and literary works."

Harriet Lansing, a senior appeals court judge in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been elected to serve a two-year term as President of the Uniform Law Commission (ULC). Judge Lansing was elected President at the 122nd Annual Meeting of the Uniform Law Commission which recently concluded in Boston.

Minnesota Judicial Branch: "'Going to Court in Minnesota,' a half-hour video designed to help immigrants, refugees, and others better understand the Minnesota court system and be prepared to go to court, is now available. It is provided in four languages: English, Hmong, Somali, and Spanish."

Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal: "The Minnesota Court of Appeals reinstated a $630 million arbitration award for Seagate against a rival that Seagate claimed had stolen trade secrets when it hired away a Minnesota employee."

Billings Gazette/AP: "U.S. Sen. Max Baucus told the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that two nominees to the federal bench in Montana will serve the state well. Baucus spoke in Washington during a hearing on the nominations of District Judge Susan Watters and Montana Supreme Court Justice Brian Morris."

Dickinson Press: "For months, Amy Flaten cried any time she talked about bankruptcy. In her late teens and early 20s, she'd racked up debt after her fiance at the time had been injured and stopped working and started doing physical therapy."

Minot Daily News: "Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle of the North Dakota Supreme Court spoke at a meeting of the Minot Kiwanis Club Tuesday about the dramatic changes in the judicial system in the state, unity in those changes, and a bit of history of those changes."

Chautauquan Daily: "In the eyes of Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Americans take their freedom for granted. As he spoke to the Chautauquans packed in and around the Hall of Philosophy at 3:30 p.m. Monday, he drew upon history and tradition to illustrate how vital it is that Americans engage in the discussion of freedom."

G.F. Herald/AP: "Minnesota's two senators recommended Tuesday that litigator Andrew Luger become the next U.S. attorney for the state if the current chief prosecutor is confirmed by the Senate for a different post."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "A Waverly dairy farmer can be awarded damages because stray electrical currents from the local power cooperative killed some of his cows and caused others to produce less milk."

Dickinson Press: "The North Dakota Attorney General's Office will ask the state's Board of University and School Lands for $1.3 million in emergency grants to put toward law enforcement efforts in the Oil Patch."

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Rosalie Wahl was remembered Monday as a remarkable jurist whose accomplishments paved the way for other women and whose deep commitment to justice formed the heart of her work."

Tulsa World: "Two cases with Oklahoma ties decided by the U.S. Supreme Court this year will help define legal thinking for the future, state Solicitor General Patrick Wyrick told a gathering of attorneys Monday night."

District Judge Joel D. Medd of the Northeast Central Judicial District will retire effective Sept. 1. The North Dakota Supreme Court is required by law to inquire whether the judgeship will continue to be needed for effective judicial administration. Comments are due by August 1.

Fargo Forum: "The long arm of the law will soon hold a shorter leash when it comes to proving you have liability insurance to drive in North Dakota. Starting Aug. 1, drivers must show proof of insurance either in writing or on a smartphone or other electronic device when asked by law enforcement."

Fargo Forum: "North Dakota's top attorney said Friday that when the state's 2012 crime statistics come out July 30, 'it's not going to be good.' Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said the increase in drug crime statistics alone has his office worried as many different drugs are being pushed around the Oil Patch at a significantly high rate."

Bismarck Tribune: "Local physicians, attorneys and clergy will come together to race and raise money for those in need of a home. The Welcome House, which provides assistance to homeless people in the Bismarck-Mandan area, will host the Docs, Crocs and Frocks event Aug. 17.

8th Circuit decides N.D. case

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed a conviction in a North Dakota embezzlement and theft case.

Governor Jack Dalrymple has proclaimed the week of July 21-27 Probation, Parole and Community Supervision Officers Week in North Dakota. In the state, and across the United States and Canada, people will join together to recognize the work that probation professionals do for public safety.

Casper Star Tribune: "If you walked into Greg Phillips office when he was an assistant U.S. attorney, you could usually find him at his desk, deep in thought, with a legal document and multi-colored Hi-Liters lined up neatly before him."

G.F. Herald: "One of the swimmers was Scott Jensen, a Grand Forks lawyer. He was in it for the second year. He seemed pleased to come in at 7 hours and 23 minutes. Last year, his time was 9 hours and 40 minutes."

Bismarck Tribune/AP: "Law enforcement officials say the planned trip to the oil patch by the nation's drug czar should highlight the challenges that have come with the increased population in western North Dakota and eastern Montana."

Mitchell Daily Republic: "The South Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday denied further appeals in state court by Charles Russell Rhines, who has been on death row for two decades for the slaying of a man during the burglary of a Rapid City doughnut shop."

St. Paul Pioneer Press/AP: "Police in New Jersey will soon have to get warrants if they want to track suspects using cellphone data, the state's Supreme Court ruled in a decision that affords citizens here more privacy protections than they enjoy under federal law."

N.D. Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem has issued an opinion that a county recorder may, but is not required to, record a deed that does not include a legal description but contains instead a reference to a legal description in another deed already on record.

Longtime Fargo attorney Wayne T. Anderson died July 12 in Florida. He was a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law and admitted to the bar in 1972. A memorial will be held in Fargo at a later date.

Washington Post: "An unprecedented federal review of old criminal cases has uncovered as many as 27 death penalty convictions in which FBI forensic experts may have mistakenly linked defendants to crimes with exaggerated scientific testimony, U.S. officials said."

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Judge Harriet Lansing, the senior judge on the Minnesota Court of Appeals, was elected to a two-year term as president of the Uniform Law Commission during its recent annual meeting in Boston. The commission consists of more that 350 lawyers, judges, law school professors, legislators and other state officials."

Billings Gazette: "The two nominees for federal judgeships in Billings and Great Falls are set to appear next week for a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Yellowstone County District Court Judge Susan Watters, and Montana Supreme Court Justice Brian Morris will appear Wednesday to answer questions and speak about their qualifications."

Louisville Courier Journal: "When he started working as a librarian in the University of Louisville's law library in 1994, Scott Campbell had never even heard of Louis D. Brandeis--the Louisville native and U.S.Supreme Court justice for whom the law school was later named."

Associated Press: "An American Indian child at the center of a custody suit that went to the U.S. Supreme Court should be returned to the Charleston-area couple seeking to adopt her, South Carolina's highest court ruled on Wednesday."

Members of the Supreme Court, active and retired judges of the Northeast Central Judicial District, and officials, dignitaries and citizens from Grand Forks County and across the state gathered July 16 to celebrate the centennial of the Grand Forks County Courthouse. Here are the photos.

Bismarck Tribune: "North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said Monday that potential cuts in federal drug prevention funding are not a surprise and will not affect staffing at the state crime lab."

8th Circuit decides N.D. case

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit has affirmed the exclusion of a recorded telephone call involving a defendant in a North Dakota criminal case.

Rochester Post Bulletin: "A Faribault man convicted in an Olmsted County courtroom will get a new trial, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled. Elvis Joko Porte, now 23, was found guilty in February 2012 of multiple charges, including first- and second-degree controlled-substance offenses."

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "Judges in South Dakota are unlikely to throw out blood test results acquired prior to an April decision from the U.S. Supreme Court, Attorney General Marty Jackley said, but the decision still might lead to a change in state law."

Reuters: "The attorney for the two inmates on death row in Montana on Monday filed a legal challenge to the state's new death penalty protocol, arguing that it violates a constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment."

G.F. Herald: "Everybody knew in 1913 that this was a special building, lovely and imposing, a declaration of pride, spirit and resolve. 'Sculptor's Chisel Works Like Magic Wand of Fairy,' a headline writer swooned a century ago, introducing a Herald story about etched stone columns and cornices of the new Grand Forks County Courthouse."

Bismarck Tribune: "Burleigh County commissioners are seeking companies to design a new two-county jail in southeast Bismarck. The county commission voted 4-1 at its meeting Monday to advertise for architects to do the design. It was also briefed about draft home rule charter that will allow the county to pay for a jail with a half-cent sales tax."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals took the unusual step on Monday of threatening to impose its own sanctions on a Minneapolis foreclosure attorney for continuing to file appeals, using legal arguments that have been repeatedly rejected by the district court in Minnesota as well as the federal appeals court."

KELO News: "The South Dakota Unified Judicial System is going social. The statewide court system has announced that is has started several social media accounts to make it easier for people to receive updates."

Wall Street Journal: "Law schools across the country are shedding faculty members as enrollment plunges, sending a grim message to an elite group long sheltered from the ups and downs of the broader economy."

Governor's News Release: "Gov. Jack Dalrymple [July 15] appointed Robin A. Schmidt and Paul W. Jacobson to serve on two newly created district court judge vacancies in North Dakota's Northwest Judicial District. Schmidt and Jacobson are expected to assume their new positions July 31."

Williston Herald: "Walking into Neff Eiken and Neff, P.C. law office now means walking into a wide-open husk of a building. Industrial-size fans roar all around you and what was once a trim, professional firm is now being taken apart. Many spots in the roof are open and walls have come down. It looks more like a construction site than a law firm."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Ramsey County District Judge Kathleen Gearin told a defendant before her for sentencing in a road rage incident that she was giving him a chance. 'You made a mistake,' Gearin said after sentencing him to six months in the county workhouse. 'It's a mistake that's going to stay with you a while.'"

Indian Country Today: "When the U.S. Supreme Court used Shelby County v. Holder to kick Section 4 of the Voting Rights Act back to Congress for a new look at who is still struggling to get to the ballot box, certain things did not change for South Dakota Indians."

New York Times: "Just six months after declaring the prison crisis is over in California, Gov. Jerry Brown is facing dire predictions about the future of the state's prison system, one of the largest in the nation."

Westlaw Insider: "Sonia Sotomayor was born on June 25, 1954 in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, to working-class parents. Sotomayor's father died when she was only nine years old. It was only after his death that Sotomayor became fluent in English."

Duluth News Tribune: "A group of Northeastern Minnesota residents on Thursday asked a three-judge panel of the Minnesota Court of Appeals to demand the state conduct an environmental review before auctioning off mineral exploration rights to mining companies."

MinnPost: "One hundred years ago, John Benson opened the doors of a Minneapolis law office meant to help the poor and underserved. Today, that one-lawyer office has morphed into Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid, an organization that has since offered legal help to hundreds of thousands of vulnerable Minnesotans."

KSFY News: "The South Dakota Supreme Court says a Sioux Falls company does not have to pay worker's compensation insurance benefits to the estate of an employee who was shot and killed by her estranged husband in the company's parking lot."

Williston Herald: "During the 2011 session, state lawmakers approved the creation of the Legacy Fund for the saving of oil and gas revenue as a way to counteract a possible statewide bust cycle. The money in the fund would be untouchable until after June 30, 2017, with any expenditure from the fund requiring a two-thirds vote of the Legislature. West Virginia is ready to follow suit."

Toronto Star/AP: "The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday stood by its ruling that a dentist acted legally when he fired an assistant because he found her too attractive and worried he would try to start an affair."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "For the first time in Wisconsin, the Supreme Court found Thursday that a woman's agreement to give birth to a baby for a childless couple is an enforceable contract, except for a provision that would terminate the birth mother's parental rights."

Westlaw Insider: "Elena Kagan was born in New York City on April 28, 1960, the middle of three children. Raised in the Jewish faith, Kagan insisted on having a ritual bat mitzvah at her Orthodox synagogue, something that had never been done there before and that was unheard-of in Orthodox Judaism at the time."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "A Medina man who successfully warded off repeat drunken-driving charges for riding his Segway while intoxicated is now suing the city and its police department, saying that his repeat arrests were tantamount to harassment because they knew his actions were not illegal."

USA Today: "The fiscal, legal, social and political challenges of housing this country's graying inmates have arrived with full force at precisely the time when states, and the federal government, are looking to rein in spending."

G.F. Herald/AP: "The 7-year-old girl whose rare cancer led to a precedent-setting malpractice ruling by the Minnesota Supreme Court has died after fighting the disease since infancy, according to the family's attorney."

Aberdeen American News: "A state judge's order to appoint someone to oversee the finances and property of a Brown County Hutterite colony during a legal dispute has been unanimously upheld by the South Dakota Supreme Court."

National Law Journal: "With the end of the U.S. Supreme Court term, summer officially begins for court watchers, so enough of this serious stuff! To borrow a line from The Lettermen classic, 'We will have these moments to remember.'"

Cronkite News: "Arizona experts said the Supreme Court's recent ruling against a Native American father who was fighting to stop his daughter from being adopted may only have muddied the waters for future cases."

Sioux City Journal: "As she freely acknowledges, this isn't where Sarah Larson thought she would be practicing law. Five years ago, she hoped to go back to Rapid City and practice corporate law, close to her native hometown of Edgemont. But as these things usually go, life happened."

Laramie Boomerang: "The U.S. Senate on Monday unanimously confirmed Wyoming Attorney General Greg Phillips to serve as a judge on a federal appeals court in Denver. All 88 senators present voted to confirm Phillips, a Democrat, to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

Williston Herald: "Sheriff Scott Busching is concerned about declining space in the Williams County jail. 'I didn't think I would see the jail full in my lifetime,' Busching said of the only 3-year-old jail. 'We thought it would be a 50-year building. It made it three and a half.'"

Sioux Falls Argus Leader: "The South Dakota attorney general's office has hired a former state legislator and retired lawman to help coordinate training efforts between state, local and federal law enforcement agencies in the state."

Rapid City Journal: "The state Supreme Court has upheld a South Dakota man's conviction for drunken driving, ruling that a Highway Patrol trooper had sufficient reason to stop the man after seeing his pickup truck cross a lane marker on the side of the highway."

Vermillion Plain Talk: "According to rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report, the University of South Dakota School of Law is one of the best in the country for 2011 graduates who are working at judicial clerkships with federal, state and local judges."

Daily Inter Lake: "The Montana Supreme Court has unanimously denied an appeal filed by a couple convicted of aggravated cruelty to animals. Edwin and Cheryl Criswell were convicted in Flathead District Court in September 2011 after the couple, 116 cats and several other animals were saved from their snowbound trailers in December 2010."

Helena Independent Record: "When the mail came saying he had unclaimed property coming, Billings neurologist Dr. Dennis OBrien thought he was getting scammed. The letters from a company called DJ Investigations of Indianapolis claimed he has money coming related to a property, but no address was given."

Columbus Republic/AP: "An appellate-court panel Friday upheld a bribery conviction for the former Fort Peck superintendent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, but reversed four other convictions involving her role in a loan fraud scheme."

Reuters: "At age 80, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, leader of the Supreme Court's liberal wing, says she is in excellent health, even lifting weights despite having cracked a pair of ribs again, and plans to stay several more years on the bench."

Indian Country Today: "The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether a state can challenge a tribe's right to open a casino in a case involving a three-year old conflict over an off reservation tribal casino in northern Michigan."

Duluth News Tribune: "One of Minnesota's most prominent trial attorneys said that Duluth lawyer John Killen was a giant in their profession and a mentor to him and others. Minneapolis lawyer Mike Ciresi on Wednesday saluted Killen, who died Monday in Duluth at 86."

Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal: "The Minnesota Supreme Court wants to make it faster and easier to resolve smaller business disputes. The state's highest court has handed down new rules to make discovery less burdensome, along with a test program for earlier trial dates in two counties that could spread to the rest of the state if it works."

S.D. Public Broadcasting: "Juveniles that break the law in South Dakota have an opportunity to keep their records clean. Youths that opt to go through the Teen Court program instead of the traditional juvenile court system can go through the court process alongside their peers who act as their attorneys and jurors in the Teen Court's restorative justice process."

Western News: "Montana made history this spring after passing the first state law to prevent the government from spying on anyone in the state by tracking personal information stored in their electronic devices."

Dickinson Press: "Oil Patch law enforcement will have access to $16.6 million in grants to fight crime in rapidly growing communities, but the dollars can't be used for one of the things sheriffs say they need most -- more officers."

Longtime Fargo attorney Daniel 'Dick' Twichell died June 29. He was a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law and was admitted to the bar in 1952. His funeral will be July 9 at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Scottsdale, AZ.

NPR: "Over 25 years as a federal judge, Royce Lamberth has touched some of the biggest and most contentious issues in the country. He led the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court after the Sept. 11 attacks, reviewed petitions from detainees at the Guantanamo prison, and gave a boost to Native Americans suing the federal government."

Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Judge Susan Nelson said recently that the contract Ellen Ewald, 54, signed with the consulate said she is subject to the laws of the country she's working in and Norwegian law. The suit, which is big news in Norway, alleges that Ewald was paid $40,000 less than a male counterpart in a comparable job."

New York Times: "The law rarely keeps up with technological advances -- except in Montana. Legislators in that state recently passed a bill that requires the police to obtain a search warrant, based on probable cause, before they can use a cellphone carrier's records to establish a suspect's location."

Associated Press: "A mother and father who prayed instead of seeking medical help as their daughter died in front of them were properly convicted of homicide, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Wednesday."

Bismarck Tribune: "Ron Rankin knew that Monday he wouldn't get to eat his cake and have it, too. There would be a party for him at the McKenzie County Courthouse--the decorated cake, sugary punch and glad-handing all around--and then he'd be officially out the door."

New York Times: "You can tell a lot about the Supreme Court by looking at who voted with whom. There are 36 possible pairs of justices, and in the term just concluded something interesting happened. The top three spots were all taken by pairs of women."

Reuters: "Google Inc notched a legal victory in its bid to create the world's largest digital books library, winning the reversal of a court order that had allowed authors challenging the project to sue as a group."

St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Minnesota's lawyers in an environmental lawsuit against the 3M Co. have been kicked off the case. The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a ruling that Covington & Burling LLP may not represent the state because it previously represented 3M -- and it can't switch sides."

Bismarck Tribune: "To people meeting him outside of the courtroom he's introduced as Mr. Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle. To workers and staff in the offices of the North Dakota Supreme Court, he's just called Chief."

Fargo Forum: "In recent years, when North Dakotans go to get their driver's license pictures taken, theyr'e asked to take off their glasses because the state's facial-recognition software requires them to do so."

Attorney Michael Sean Gerlach, 59, of Two Harbors, Minn., died June 28, 2013, after a battle with cancer. Gerlach was a graduate of the University of North Dakota School of Law. His funeral will be at 11 a.m. on July 2 in St. Michael's Church, Duluth, Minn.

Four lawyers have been named as finalists to fill the newly created East Central Judicial District judgeship vacancy. They are: Norman Anderson, Constance Cleveland, Thomas Olson and Robert Stroup III. All the finalists are from Fargo. Ten lawyers initially applied for the position.

Philadelphia Inquirer: "The blockbuster Supreme Court term that ended last week might seem to deliver a severe case of whiplash. One day the court delighted conservatives by striking down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act and the next it delighted liberals by striking down the federal Defense of Marriage Act"

Faribault Sentinel: "Faribault, Martin and Jackson County drug court is officially an example of 'how it's done.' The multi-county drug court recently was selected as one of 10 mentor drug courts to serve as a model for other counties and districts across the nation."

Yanton Press and Dakotan: "Three area South Dakota counties have received new court officials in moves resembling a domino effect. Presiding First Circuit Judge Steven Jensen of Elk Point, who oversees 14 southeast South Dakota counties, appointed the officials."

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/AP: "A special task force of attorneys recommends limiting Wisconsin Supreme Court justices to a single 16-year term, a move it says could help restore public confidence in a court beset by increasingly confrontational political campaigns."

NPR: "This year marks the 50th anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision: Gideon v. Wainwright in which the justices ruled, unanimously, that defendants in criminal cases deserved legal representation in state courts. If defendants could not afford counsel, the state would have to provide it. Those lawyers are known as public defenders."